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Growing crops … & young minds

“I’ve had 35-year-old people who have lived in this community all of their life ask me why farmers are blowing all of the corn out the back of the combine.”

That, Fayette County farmer Clayton Gathe said, shows the need for agriculture education, something that Martha Cripe has concentrated on for the past decade.
And Gathe is working with other farmers and ag business leaders in the Fayette County Farm Bureau’s Young Leaders organization to see that the funding for the Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom continues to provide area youngsters with a good understanding of the agriculture industry.
But, to do that, they need the help of farmers from throughout the county, and from other individuals who see this as an important part of a child’s education.
For several years, the Young Leaders have been asking local farmers to donate a portion of their fall harvest to the Ag in the Classroom program, as well as local Farm Bureau scholarships.
About 18 months ago, they created something that farmers could dump their donation into. The Young Leaders sanded down and painted a wagon donated by the David and Angie Gathe family, emblazoning it with Ag in the Classroom and Growing Grain for Ag Education decals.
The Young Leaders are stationing that wagon at elevators in the area – including Cripe Grain in Bluff City; ADM in Shobonier, St. Peter and Farina; and TGM in Mulberry Grove – inviting local farmers to be a part of the program.
“They can donate however much they want,” Gathe said. “They can donate 5 bushels or 500 bushels.”
In their first year, the Young Leaders had just a couple of grain donations; last year, it received about 10.
“We hope to build it a little bit more every year,” Gathe said.
“Ag in the Classroom is very important in this community, with agriculture being the biggest industry,” he said.
“So many of these kids today are generations and generations off the farm,” he said, “so we want to do all we can to see that these kids see what goes on in farming, what we do and how we do it,” he said.
That’s exactly what Martha Cripe has been doing since 2006, holding educational sessions with students in grades 1-5.
It was a decade ago that Cripe was attending Illinois Farm Bureau meetings with her husband, Ken, president of the Fayette County Farm Bureau, when she learned about the Ag in the Classroom program.
“I thought, ‘That’s something that I could do,’” she said.
Cripe started out by visiting just a few classes, and now holds sessions with students in grades 1-5 in Vandalia, Brownstown, St. Elmo, St. Peter, Vandalia and Ramsey.
While the Ag in the Classroom typically runs five months each year, this school year, Cripe is going into classrooms in October, November, March and April.
Her visits are 35-40 minute presentations to the school children. “It may involve reading a book, doing some type of activity, watching a movie or even touring a farm,” Cripe said.
The lessons teach the youngsters just about everything in agriculture.
For example, “At Thanksgiving, I will take in a grocery sack that contains everything you would use to make a Thanksgiving dinner, and we’ll talk about where all of those things come from.”
Cripe also will take a cheeseburger into the classroom, and go over with the kids the agricultural products used to make each part of the burger.
“We talk about how the food we eat gets from the farm to the table,” she said.
“I’ll show them a photo of a farm, and talk about all of the different things on the farm … what do we get from the chicken, what do we get from pigs?” said Cripe, who five years ago was honored as the Illinois Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom Volunteer of the Year.
And while she talks to the students about the crops commonly grown in Illinois – including corn, soybeans and wheat – “I don’t just stick to Illinois (agriculture). For example, we have a lesson on such things as cotton and fibers,” Cripe said.
“Among other things, it gives the kids good insight into many of the things from the farm that we tend to take for granted,” she said.
Cripe also explains to students that a farmer needs to know about a lot of different things.
“A lot of people think that a farming job is just planting crops and then harvesting them,” she said. “It’s not just a summer job.
“A farmer has to know how to market his crops and find the best markets, and be able to work on his equipment.
“Once a farmer has all of his crops in, he has to begin planning for the next year and get all of his equipment ready for the next year.
“We read a Dr. Seuss book about different hats, and we talk about all of the different hats that a farmer wears,” Cripe said.
She also emphasizes during her presentations that agriculture is more than just growing crops, that there are all kinds of occupational opportunities available.
“There are jobs in marketing, chemicals, fertilizer, equipment, and we talk about all of those kinds of things,” she said.
Ag in the Classroom, Cripe said, “brings awareness to the kids what farming is all about, and I think it has been a good teacher. In fact, I have even learned some things.”
 

Harvesting corn in the Gatch Lake area, Clayton Gathe fills with corn the wagon that the Fayette County Farm Bureau Young Leaders are using to raise funds for the Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom program.

Martha Cripe makes an Ag in the Classroom presentation at an area school. Cripe was honored in 2011 as the Illinois Farm Bureau’s Ag in the Classroom Volunteer of the Year.

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